Category: Volunteers

President’s Corner — November/December, 2019

Posted on by Terry Wall in Costa Mesa, Mesa Verde, MVCI Board of Directors, MVCI membership, Safety & Security, Volunteers

Gratitude.

This Holiday Season, on behalf of the entire board, I would like to share our genuine appreciation with the residents of Mesa Verde. As I have noted in the past, we are a volunteer organization, which includes our membership dues. Without you, we would not be where we are today, and we are sincerely grateful. We hope you have a joyous holiday and we look forward to our ongoing partnership.

The new year will bring some interesting, and challenging opportunities! 2020 will be the first time the Mesa Verde community will elect its own district-specific member to the Costa Mesa City Council. City wide, we continue to deal with a burgeoning homeless situation. Across the 405 from Mesa Verde, developers are planning a HUGE multi-use project: One Metro West, and we can expect some sort of progress to be made in the plans to implement 5G technology throughout our area. It will be important to educate ourselves about these initiatives, along with others that will come, so we can all make informed decisions.

To our board: A sincere thanks to you for all of your contributions! You give of your time and talents and our community benefits from these efforts tremendously! To our membership: Respectfully consider some form of involvement in MVCI. We can always use volunteers and from time to time, we have openings on the board, for which it is always helpful to have a list of those who may be interested in serving.

MVCI’s board does not meet in December, so please permit me to wish you and your family the happiest of Holidays! Stay healthy and safe and we’ll see you again in January! Finally, don’t forget your MVCI membership! You can join or renew by using the application right here on the website.

Warmly,

~Terry

 

President’s Corner — August, 2019

Posted on by Terry Wall in Annual Meeting, Candidate Forum, City Council, Civic Activity, Community Action, Community Beautification, Home beautification, Mayor's Race, Mesa Verde, MVCI Board of Directors, MVCI membership, Neighborhood Survey, Newport Mesa Unified School District, NMUSD, Parks & Recreation Commission, Parkway Trees, Safety & Security, School Board, School District, Volunteers

Greetings Mesa Verde! As a result of the board’s unanimous vote, I have been appointed to be MVCI’s president for the next two-year term. The last two years have seen significant progress in the endeavors of the organization and can be seen in Bob Juneman’s final message to the community, the July “PC.” While I’m at it, I want to sincerely thank Bob for his marvelous stewardship, and only hope that I can be as successful in the upcoming term.

Going forward, there will be several things I’d like to see us accomplish as your board. But for the purposes of this first message to the community, I want to focus on one issue: Membership! As has been shared several times by Bob and all the members of the board, membership is our lifeblood. We are not a homeowner association in the sense most people understand. There are no mandatory CC&R-based (covenants, conditions and restrictions) HOA fees for common areas, external building surfaces, roofs, pools, etc.

Think of MVCI instead as more of a civic association. All board members are volunteers and all dues collected are also voluntary. The funds the organization takes in allow us to advocate on behalf of the residents with the City Council and the various city commissions, Police and Fire Departments, School Board, Water and Sanitation Districts, to ensure our collective voices are heard. These dollars also help to defray the costs of our Annual Meeting, the MVCI City Council Candidate Forum, newsletters, surveys, the MVCI website and projects associated with beautification, like the entry signs to the community.

I want to appeal to every homeowner in Mesa Verde to join MVCI! With roughly 3000 homes in our community, there is no reason that we can’t get twenty percent membership. If you’re a member, ask your neighbors. I have seen dozens of new homeowners move into the “Upper Bird” streets just in the last few years…ask them! Membership is only twenty bucks a year…4 or 5 visits to Starbucks!

What’s it gonna take to get you to participate?

As part of this task, I will be producing a video, with the working title, “This is Mesa Verde” to help tell the story. We will create a YouTube channel to help communicate with internet-savvy folks. We just formed a partnership with the new magazine, Mesa Verde Living, which is mailed monthly to the aforementioned 3000 homes. To simplify signing up and renewing memberships, we are looking at online methods and will have a robust solution chosen in the next 60 days.

Are you with me? According to a few of our veteran board members, our membership roster has been as high as 500, so the 20% ask (which would be around 600 members) should be “do-able.”

Let’s do this! To get to the membership application, click here.

See you again next month!

~Terry

President’s Corner — June, 2019

Posted on by Terry Wall in Civic Activity, Community Action, Community Beautification, Costa Mesa Police Department, Holiday Wishes, Mesa Verde, MVCI Board of Directors, MVCI membership, Neighborhood Survey, Retail Shopping, Volunteers

Hello Mesa Verde, welcome to the “long hot summer!” Hope you all have great plans for family fun and recreation.

We’re continuing to grow; three new members in the past month, and the addition of a new Beautification Chair. Karla Stagman, a resident of North Mesa Verde, has graciously volunteered to head up our beautification efforts. We’ll be hearing more from Karla a bit later.

Traffic Update. Our vice-president, Terry Wall, visited with Lt. Victor Bakkila to get an update on the traffic issues in and around Mesa Verde. “Lt. B” was gracious and generous with his time and very enthusiastic about what they’re able to do regarding the traffic throughout the city. He shared with Terry an incredible analytical computer program that can help pinpoint areas warranting increased law enforcement attention and encouraged us to give him input on specific areas that members of the community might spot. The department also has acquired two additional mobile traffic monitoring trailers and again, if we see an area needing a closer look, all we have to do is ask.

The “30,000-foot view” report lists the top 10 intersections with traffic incidents (collisions); note that a number of them involve locations that are either in or touch Mesa Verde. In order, they are:

  1. Newport Boulevard at 19th Street – 13
  2. Wilson Street at Harbor Boulevard – 13
  3. Victoria Street at Placentia Avenue – 11
  4. Harbor Boulevard at Gisler Avenue – 10
  5. South Coast Drive at Harbor Boulevard – 10
  6. Bristol Street at Baker Street – 9
  7. Fairview Road at Adams Avenue – 9
  8. Harbor Boulevard at Adams Avenue – 9
  9. Newport Boulevard at Harbor Boulevard – 9
  10. 17th Street at Superior Avenue – 7

Date range of this report: 4/1/18 – 4/20/19

Lt. B pointed out that the enhanced police presence contributed to the reduction in violations in the Mesa Verde community, but that it’s an ongoing activity. We are the eyes into the community and if we see something, we should say something, so let us know and we’ll pass your feedback along to CMPD.

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We recently conducted a survey of Mesa Verde, asking what you would like to see in our newsletter. So far we’ve heard from 52 residents; 50 actually responded. Click here to see the results so far. The survey is now closed, but if you intended to reply, please be on the lookout for our next one.

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Carmen Twork of C.J. Segerstrom and Sons, reports that several new restaurants will be coming to “The Shops at Mesa Verde” in the near future. SHABU SHABU, featuring a hot pot style of cooking at your table, is scheduled to open this fall. Slated for early 2020 is “KENWOOD KITCHEN AND TAP”, a full-service restaurant and bar, offering high quality salads, burgers, sandwiches, steaks, chicken, and sea food. Both will occupy spaces adjacent to DESCANSO. “MEDITERRANEAN”, a family owned, fast, casual cafe, famous for kebabs, falafels, and Mediterranean plates, is in the final stages of negotiation, and will round out the restaurant mix at “The Shops”.

Please forgive my “stuck needle”, but we need your membership. Please join, or renew, while you’re thinking of it. Click here to get to our membership application.

Finally, as we look forward to the Fourth of July and our BBQ ‘s and fireworks, let’s remember what we’re celebrating: Our independence from a tyrannical monarch and government.
Let us fly our flag proudly, and be ever thankful for our many freedoms.

Warmly,
Bob

President’s Corner — October, 2018

Posted on by Terry Wall in Candidate Forum, City Council, Costa Mesa, Costa Mesa Fire Department, Costa Mesa Police Department, Mayor's Race, Mesa Verde, MVCI membership, Safety & Security, Volunteers

Hello neighbors,

Halloween approaches, but with this warm weather I wonder about the frost on the pumpkin. Maybe it will be a nice evening for the trick or treaters. Got your costume ready?

Our recent candidates forum was very successful. All ten candidates for City Council and Mayor participated, and all performed well. I believe our audience gained a better perspective on the issues facing our community. You may view the entire forum by clicking here.

Our work with the CMPD on traffic issues continues to bring results. Citations for speeding and other violations have increased since the beginning of greater vigilance. Thank you Lt. Bakkila and the traffic division. We will continue to pursue this effort and report to you periodically on the results. Please keep us informed of particular hot spots. Be specific as to time, location and type of violation. To give you an idea of the magnitude of this effort, here are some stats on citations so far this year:

Mesa Verde Drive            20
Adams                             452
Baker                                182
Oriole                                   7
Tanager                              71
Gisler                                 26

The recent grand opening of Fire Station One was a huge success. The facility is a beauty and fully operational. Just another example of “keeping Mesa Verde Safe”. Hats off to our City staff, Chief Stefano, and the CMFD for pulling off the building of this great new asset.

The “Shops at Mesa Verde” are progressing nicely if not quickly. Descanso is scheduled to open the first week of November, and Stylists will open soon with a grand opening set for late November. We will soon see a whole new look for this area.

We are looking for a volunteer “Data Manager” and possible Board member to manage the data base for our growing membership. If interested, please send an email to info@mesaverdecommunity.org, and put “Data Manager” in the subject line.

Finally, thank you and congratulations to Leah Ersoylu, our newest Lifetime member. If you have not renewed your membership for this year (Apr 1 – Mar 31), this is a great time to do so. Click here  to access the application form (PDF).

‘Til next month,
Happy Halloween!

Bob

President’s Corner — June 2018

Posted on by Terry Wall in Civic Activity, Community Action, Costa Mesa, Costa Mesa Fire Department, Family Fun, Mesa Verde, MVCI membership, Retail Shopping, Volunteers

Hello again, time for my June commentary.

First, thank you to our newest Lifetime Members:

                      Chris and Tracy Clevidence and David and Nancy Walden

Our Lifetime Club is growing. Please refer to the MEMBERSHIP LIST posting as of June 1st. There was a considerable drop off from the 2017 membership year, so If you haven’t tendered your dues for this year (Apr 1- Mar 31), now is a good time to do so. We are working on setting up “auto renew” to make it simpler for our members, so bear with us. PayPal sign ups are also being refined and will include the auto-renew feature. Stay tuned for more on this.

For the past few months you have likely noticed new construction in the center at Harbor and Adams. So, what’s going on?  This past Friday, we posted a update, courtesy of the Segerstrom Co.,  owners and operators of the center, with information on the new section of “The Shops at Mesa Verde,” as well as  what’s happening at the old Acapulco.

Bet you’ve seen some coyotes running around the community. The California Fish and Wildlife Department is very concerned that a big part of the problem is us. (We have met the enemy and he is us! – POGO)  If you want to know why and what we can do about it, click here.  Really good stuff!

Looks like the new fire station at Adams and Royal Palm will now open in September, ….. or maybe October? Stay tuned for news on a grand opening and guided tours, courtesy of CMFD and MVCI. Our patience will be rewarded, I’m sure.

Our cadre of MVCI volunteers is growing, now numbering seven. This is a great opportunity for you to serve your community without an obligation to time commitment. We will call on you from time to time for special projects. My goal is to reach 20 by March 31st. Will you help me? Contact me at bob@juneman.com for more info or to enlist.

Stay connected to MVCI via our website. New postings often.

and…..

PLEASE REMEMBER TO RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP!

Thank you,  ‘til July,

Bob